Those who have a Mercedes with lease ending soon, what is your experience returning the car (NOT purchasing it or a new one)? Mercedes suspended ALL lease return inspection.
I have a lease ending on my i3 in 4 days and still haven’t gotten an answer how to return it. BMW offered half off monthly rate but I’m already over miles and it’s an extra car which is sitting and collecting dust. Want it gone so I don’t have to pay insurance on it.
Dang, I wish they would make me an offer like that on my i3!
anyone else dealing with GMF on this topic? no dealer in my area would take my car when the lease ended, including the originating dealer (shelter in place was in effect.) so i arranged with GM what (apparently) amounted to a 1-month extension with no payment due. i had/have every intention of returning the car, and it’s not registered so i can’t drive it; i am essentially storing it for GM right now.
yesterday they called back and said “well? where is it??” which is ludicrous since nothing has changed here in the bay area lockdown-wise. the dealerships are still closed. they told me i’d have to make another payment, which to me is crazy. i can’t use the car (registration) don’t need it (leased an M3 in december) and just want to get rid of it. i think i may have convinced them to send a truck out to pick it up but like all things GM i don’t expect this to fall through.
anyone else go thru this dance with GMF?
In Bay Area. Was able to return my volt to the originating lender in Dublin on may 1. Had to make few calls and there was no inspection aside from mileage. Totally contactless except one document to sign where we were in masks and hand gloves.
California likely extended registration expiration dates. Most dates did AFAIK
that’s interesting. a couple weeks before the shutdown i contacted a bunch of bay area dealers asking if they would take the return and none of them would unless i was willing to entertain buying a new car. then when i called the originating dealer on march 20th they were closed and would not take the car. i called them on may 4th and they said they were still closed and again would not take the car. maybe this is the difference between contra costa county and alameda county… who knows.
anyway GMF claims the truck pickup is winding its way through their system but who knows. good to hear they just took your car and didn’t try to coop you up in the finance guy’s office trying to make you buy a new car.
probably. but the point is that the lease is over and 1) i don’t need the car 2) don’t want to drive it anywhere so as not to give the impression i’m trying to get a free car and 3) not 100% sure it is registered. i can see in my USPS daily digest that a letter from the DMV regarding this car is going to hit my mailbox today. it looks like another registration letter. we’ll see.
interestingly, this is a letter saying that i failed to register the car and owe a fine even if i want to file PNO. however the govenor’s order about this clearly covers the date range for me, so i guess i have to call the DMV and sort it out. PNO costs $22 so i suppose if i can get them to waive the fee i will do that. of course then there’s the issue of whether or not it is legal for me to drive it to the dealer, if it comes to that.
GM financial called us about payment (we stopped the auto payments) and found us a dealer in the Bay Area that would accept lease returns. We just returned to Los Gatos GMC/Buick yesterday. Hope this helps someone.
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thanks. my dealer is fremont; i guess i can call them back and ask again. maybe they are just trying to duck out of lease returns - i don’t see why santa clara county would let a car dealership operate while alameda would not given the bay area “pact”. but it sounds like GM financial might be able to twist a dealer’s arm. i assume you didn’t originate the lease at Los Gatos?
anyway if nothing happens with the pickup i’ll see if i can get GMF to arrange with Los Gatos.
I did not originate the lose in Los Gatos, it was in San Jose. I let a coworker know as well, she called up the dealership and also arranged a lease return appointment today.
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maybe i should just do this; i’m now in DMV hell because of the lapsed registration. the sooner i get rid of it the better.
by the way did they just let you return the car and leave, or did they try to sell you another car? last thing i want during covid19 is to be trapped in an office with the finance guy while they try to twist my arm.
Anyone here had their lease extended for bmw? My lease is up in two days and BMW financial offered 1 month extension with 1/2 monthly pmt. The only thing I’m worry about is the registration because I’m in CA and would have to pay for full year to renew registration. I search CA DMV website and it said they’re suspending late fee and penalty for all registration set to expired this month through end of June so I’m not worry about getting ticket. But I’m concern because Bmw financial said per contract the car registry has to be current so Rep told me to contact BMW dealer to see if they’re ok. Called dealer and was told they don’t ever check for registration so I would have to ask bmw financial. Basically I’m being ping pong back and forth and no one can confirm is they will take car back if registration not paid.
Anyone have issue about this?
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So we had a chat with GM financial and said that there is no way I am registering this car with DMV, paying for it or driving and they are free to pick it up if they wish. If the dealership is not accepting it is really not my problem. GM guys said originating dealer has to accept it provided county has not asked them to shut down.
We called ahead and made an appointment. We made clear we will be in and out. They tried to sell new car which was shot down in a minute by saying that only way I can afford a new car right now is if it is free. Hope this helps.
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My 2018 Mini Clubman lease expired on the 18th. I had some compound concerns about turning the vehicle in with COVID-19, the only LA dealership ending franchise, a pending warranty repair disrupted by the outbreak, and the nearest one 3 hours away declining to service the vehicle over state lines due to NOLA being a Covid hotspot.
Mini FS sent a flatbed over and just picked up the vehicle and took it directly to auction. They seemed genuinely interested in helping to resolve the problem and even called for feedback on the turn-in experience (which was not super great since I basically just handed a 3rd party contractor who did not speak English my keys), but they sound like they will be flexible on the final invoice if anything pops up due to not being able to have a pre-inspection.
I am guessing BMW is doing this too since MINI FS is just them wearing a T-shirt with a skateboard on it that says “radical.”
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With Covid 19, all One Life events have been canceled. In select markets, courtesy of @BMWDavid, we’ve established some OL events are returning under the name of Road to Summer 2020.
Each OL code is a $500 BMW FS contribution, and a $500 dealer contribution, so ymmv. This is also valid only at the dealer that provides the event, and is mostly available in the Western U.S.
Everything worked out great by the way. Final invoice was disposition only, so nothing screwed up about the lack of inspection. They probably could have got me on the heavily touched up curbed wheels…